Parliament Demands Answers on Chagos Deal as Starmer Arrives in Washington

Foreign Secretary David Lammy has suggested that President Donald Trump will have a veto over the Chagos deal.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer gives a speech during a welcome reception at the British ambassador's residence in Washington, on Feb. 26, 2025. Carl Court/PA

Parliamentary scrutiny is mounting over the government’s decision to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer travels to Washington to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, whose approval is crucial for the deal to proceed.

The UK is negotiating the transfer of the Chagos Islands, while seeking to lease back the strategically vital Diego Garcia military base used by the United States. Under an agreement signed in October, the British-U.S. base on Diego Garcia would remain under UK control for at least 99 years.

Washington’s approval is key to the progress of the deal, according to Foreign Secretary David Lammy. Speaking to ITV’s “Peston” programme on Wednesday, Lammy said: “If President Trump doesn’t like the deal, the deal will not go forward.

“The reason for that is because we have a shared military and intelligence interest with the United States, and of course they’ve got to be happy with the deal, or there is no deal.”

The Chagos deal, announced in October, was reached in close consultation with American officials. However, since then, both Mauritius and the United States have undergone leadership changes.

Newly elected Mauritius Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam has criticised the agreement, arguing it was poorly negotiated. He objected to the lack of inflation-proofing in the UK’s payments for leasing Diego Garcia and opposed a clause allowing the UK to unilaterally extend the lease for another 40 years.

Meanwhile, the new U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has previously said the deal posed a “serious threat,” arguing it gives the islands to a country aligned with China.

However, Lammy, who said the UK’s military and intelligence was “very intertwined with the United States,” still believes it’s the best deal.

Heated Debate

Starmer is likely to discuss the issue during his first face-to-face meeting with Trump since he returned to the White House.

The meeting comes after a heated exchange in the House of Commons on Wednesday, where Starmer faced pressure over whether British defence funds would be used to pay Mauritius for leasing back Diego Garcia.

Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch pressed him for clarity, but Starmer refused to confirm, insisting that the increase in defence spending was focused on European security.

He added that the Chagos deal was “extremely important” for UK security and promised MPs full details once finalised.

The government has not disclosed the cost of the agreement, but reports suggest payments could range between £9 billion and £18 billion. Starmer dismissed these figures as “wide of the mark.”

Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago and site of a major United States military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean leased from Britain in 1966. File Photo

Conservative MPs, who strongly oppose the deal, have labelled it “shady” and a “betrayal of Britain.”

Badenoch called on the government to ensure no defence budget funds are used to fund the deal.

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel moved a Commons motion asking the government to release a chronology of the negotiations between the UK and Mauritius since July 4 last year, and to confirm the accuracy of recent updates made by the Mauritius prime minister on the terms of the deal.

However, the motion was rejected on Wednesday evening by 298 to 147 votes.

“The government has covered up the true facts of this deal, a deal we would never have done, from the get-go. Tonight, the Conservatives gave Labour MPs the chance to scrap the deal and stop the cash and yet they chose to surrender,” said Patel.

Elsewhere, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage criticised the Chagos agreement, claiming it was motivated by “colonial guilt” rather than strategic interests.

He suggested selling the islands to the United States, rather than handing them over to “corrupt Mauritius.”

“If we’re going to give this up, let’s sell. Let’s sell, let’s get a few billion quid for the … Chagos Islands,” Farage told MPs on Wednesday.

UK’s Rule Over Chagos Islands

Mauritius, which gained independence from the UK in 1968, has long claimed sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, arguing they were unlawfully separated before independence.

In 2019, the U.N.’s highest court ruled in an advisory opinion that the UK’s administration of the territory was “unlawful,” increasing pressure on Britain to return the islands.

Between 1968 and 1973, the UK forcibly removed between 1,400 and 1,700 Chagossians to establish the Diego Garcia base. Many were resettled in Mauritius and the Seychelles, and from 2002, some were allowed to move to the UK. British laws made it illegal for them to return without permission.

The UK has since apologised for the forced removals and issued three compensation payments, the most recent in 2016. However, many Chagossians say they have been left out of decisions affecting their homeland and demand greater involvement in its future.

PA Media contributed to this report.